Alemarese
General Information Alemarese (natively Alemarrix /alemaˈʀiʃ/) is one of the most spoken languages of Patrona. It is the majority language in several nations (most notable Westos and Alemar) and taught as a lingua franca the world over. Classification Alemarese is an Edalith language, of the Chevin branch and the Peninsular subbranch. Phonology Consonants *The interdental nasal /n/ and partially the alveolar flap /r/ assimilate to the place of articulation of the following consonant. *The interdental nasal /n/ is pronounced as a nasalized interdental flap ɾ̟̃ in non-stressed and non-word-initial locations. *The uvular stop /q/ is pronounced as a glottal stop ʔ in the coda. *Whether or not /z/ is a separate consonant and its degree of separation from /s/ both differ from dialect to dialect. *The velar fricative is pronounced as a palatal ç after /i/ or /e/. *The labialized velar approximant /w/ has many origins and thus alternates with several other phonemes. It is the pronunciation of /l/ in the coda, and of /u/ in many diphthongs. Vowels *The close vowels /i/ and /u/ lower in response to a following /ŋ/, /k/, /g/, and /q/. *The mid vowels /e/ and /o/ lower when followed by a coda consonant and raise before another vowel or word-finally. *Conservative dialects have separate close-mid and open-mid vowels. *In some dialects, e and ɛ (and o and ɔ) contrast word-finally. *The front open vowel /a/ raises to æ before alveolar consonants in some dialects. */a/ backs to ɑ when adjacent to a uvular stop q. *Vowels gain a following semivocalic schwa before nasals in some dialects. *Any two adjacent vowels diphthongize. Stress Stress is typically on the penultimate vowel, unless the word ends with a consonant other than or ; however, stress is contrastive, and is thus marked in non-obvious locations by a grave accent. Writing System The Alphabet Alemarese is written in the Standard Chevin Alphabet (natively Txevì Keaja). Transliteration * is pronounced /w/ in the coda. * is pronounced /w/ before back vowels and /ɸ/ word-finally. *, , and are devoiced to /p/, /nt/, and /ɸ/ word-finally. Digraphs *au /o/, ai /e/ *cm /m/ word-initially *di or dy /dʒ/, dyi /dʒi/ *jr /ʀ/ word-initially, jC /C/ *ndgB /ŋgB/, ng /ŋ/ *rr /ʀ/ *sp /ʃp/, st /ʃt/ *tt /tː/, tx /tʃ/ *veB /βB/, voF /wF/ Native Collation k, a, j, d, g, u, q, p, b, o, h, v, e, s, z, t, l, f, i, y, ð, r, n, m, þ, x Parts of Speech Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Determiners, Verbs, Prepositions, Adverbials, Conjunctions, Particles, Interjections Nouns Declension table First declension The first declension houses the vast majority of animate nouns, all morphological diminutives, and all instruments. The animate nouns have a vocative case, in contrast with the inanimates. There's very little irregularity in the first declension. Noun endings ''-ea'' or ''-aya'' become ''-eye'' and ''-ae'' when the ending begins with e''. ex. ''otta "tongue, language, speech" Note that the plural nominative, allative, and vocative are the same, as are plural genitive and singular vocative. So there is seven forms. Some declension I nouns have ''-e''s instead of ''-a''s in the singular nominative, allative, and instrumental, reducing the number of forms to four. ex. xile "scratch, scrape" Second declension The second declension is almost entirely inanimate, save for some names and some dialects versions of the diminutives of the core family such as bab and nun in place of the more typical baba and nunya. For declension II names, the vocative is the nominative form. Declension II nouns typically have seven forms. ex. kur "flame, fire" Second declension nouns typically end in a stressed syllable in the nominative singular. The addition of the endings bring about predictable alternations of certain final consonants. For a given word, there is a maximum of three stems. These alterations do not occur in loanwords. There are ten alternation classes: #The first class are the regular nouns: loanwords and those ending in any consonant not mentioned in the other classes. ex. gix "trinket, keepsafe" (gixun, gixo) #The next are those ending in and , which have three stems: a sg.nom stem (p/t), an u''' stem (f/þ), and a '''obl stem (b/d). ex. haup "cord" (haufun, haubo) #Next are those ending in <ð>, which are the same as those in except in the sg.nom. raið "anger" (raiðun, raido) #Nouns in <þ> have two stems: a sg or u''' stem (þ) and an '''obl stem (d). ex. yeþ "leaf" (yeþun, yedo) #Next are the vowel-final nouns. In the sg.nom they are accented, in the sg.all/'sg.instr' they are accented and receive a ''-n/me'' ending (instead of a ''-un/ume''), the other endings are regular. ex. jaurà "hour" (jauràn, jaurao) #Nouns ending in <ò> lack number distinctions in the nom, all, and instr cases. #Nouns ending in decline as nouns ending in <è> except in the sg.nom. petai "rain" (petèn, peteon) #Next are nouns in and , which replace the with before non-'sg.nom' endings. #Next are nouns ending in a stop, followed by an unstressed , followed by an . They always drop the unstressed in the non-'sg.nom' forms. Some nouns in or then change the to . ex. hèder "house" (hetrun, hetro) #Lastly are nouns which change pronunciation, but not spelling, of a final consonant in the sg.nom. to /p/, to /φ/, to /nt/ and to /w/. Third declension Third declension nouns are mostly inanimate, though there are a few groups of animates. They are the most regular declension. Nominative forms are used if a vocative is needed. ex. duji "gold" Note that the nominative and genitive forms do not distinguish singular v. plural. There is a subset of declension III nouns which have an -e instead of -i in the nominative forms and don't distinguish singular vs plural ever. ex. rame "rope, noodle" Irregular nouns Few nouns are irregular, and if a noun is irregular, it is very predictable. An example of a truly irregular noun is oai "cloud". Pronouns Nominative pronouns Accusative pronouns Instrumental pronouns Genitive pronouns Possessive pronouns Vocative pronouns There are only two vocative pronouns: 2s toye and 2p miumà. Interrogative pronouns Adjectives The citation form is the inanimate nominative singular. The adjectives have no vocative case forms, current standard is to use the nominative forms to agree with vocative nouns. Where endings are separated by slashes in the table, the first is singular and the second is plural. ex. kremi 'holy' (Soa dine ginora hosa em kremya! 'Even the trickster god is holy!') ex. baborev 'motherly, nuturing' (Jore emò krenten hef baboreven. 'They are very nuturing people.') ex. kade 'new' (Em el so alemaro ramisfundiam horme kade! 'It's from the new Alemarese Third Republic!') Comparison Intensity An intensive adjective is shown with the adverb/particle hef placed before the adjective in question. ex. Seo kari raið hef saidiemf. "I am very seriously angry." (Lit. "I hold anger very stoneful.") Determiners Article Demonstratives Quantifiers Quantifiers include: ispe "all", ispive "most", be "many/a lot", tlone "some", and five "few" Distributives Distributive determiners include: saude "any" and elkine "each". Case usage Nominative The nominative case (abbreviated nom) is the dictionary form of a noun. It is primarily used for the subject and primary object of a sentence. As a secundative language, Alemarese treats the indirect object of a ditransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive verb the same. This is called the primary object. The nominative is also used for the objects of a few prepositions: benefactives, locatives, temporals, hus 'as', and id 'about'. Genitive The genitive case (abbreviated gen) has a few uses. It primarily signifies possession (so kurù freziv 'the flames' heat') and composition (lotto emaje 'a state of panic') when placed before a noun. It is also used in a partitive sense, appearing on nouns before the noun-numbers: pidejn 'zero', dièn 'nine', horòn 'eleven', and up. ex. jen krenta vs krentà hied ('one person' vs '64 people') The genitive additionally shows the origin of something and, in the same capacity, to make basic demonyms. *ex. Seo mi alemaro 'I'm Alemarese.' It's also used to show groups to which one is a member. *ex. hetro ridore 'of House Kicker' And to make matronymics. *ex. rajàn rajàno 'John, child of John' When used with locative prepositions, it gives them an 'away from' component. *ex. ij in --> out of, ro on --> off of, vend at --> from Allative The Allative case (abbreviated all) has two uses. It is used for the secondary object of a sentence and to signify movement towards. The secondary object corresponds to the direct object of a ditransitive verb. When used with locative prepositions, it gives them a 'towards' component. *ex. ij in --> into, ro on --> onto, vend at --> to Instrumental The instrumental case (abbreviated instr) has three uses. It is used to signify an instrument that is used to complete an action, governing the preposition set '(along) with', and to create basic adverbs. Vocative The vocative is used for direct address. Only animate nouns have a vocative. The singular vocative is the same as the plural genitive and the plural vocative is the same as the plural nominative. *ex. Aðe krenten! 'Hello people!' *ex. Farm vilxà. 'Bye, Vilshe.' Verbs There are four conjugation classes based on four thematic vowels: a''', '''e, u''', and '''o. Present tense '-a verbs' '-e verbs' '-u verbs' '-o verbs' The present tense is used for ongoing current events, states, and unambiguous references to the future. ex. seo odi "I give" Recent tense The recent tense is formed with the present tense + sentence final particle là. The recent tense is used for events which happened typically within the past ten minutes. ex. seo odi là "I just gave" Remote tense active participle + the following suffixes (stressed on the participle ending except in the 3p). '-a and -e verbs' '-u and -o verbs' The remote tense is used for past events which the speaker personally experienced. ex. seo odera "I know I gave" Indirect tense Infix ''-is-'' (''-es-'' after an a'', or occasionally ''au or o'') + present endings. Stress placed on the infix in the 2p and 3p, and before the infix otherwise. ''-a verbs endings change to ''-e'' verb endings. The indirect tense is used for past events which the speaker didn't personally experience. ex. seo òdisi "I suppose/hear I gave" Eventive tense Thematic vowel + the following suffixes '-a, -e, and -o verbs' '-u verbs' The eventive tense is used for events considered likely and dependent on some condition. ex. seo odaje "I'd probably give" Future tense The future tense is indicated by the copula "em", which is placed before a bare verb (historically an infinitive). *ex. Mi oda li "I will give it" A prospective tense can be formed with the future tense + sentence final particle là. The prospective tense is used for events which will happen typically within ten minutes. ex. Mi oda là "I just gave" Participles Example: Regular verbs moiza '"to know" (''Moizi teo! ''"I know you!") '''kara '"to have in one's possession" (Seo kari so uzìn. ''"I have the cup.") '''sterre '"to hunt" (Sterrer enxala ze. ''"I like to hunt.") '''raqne '"to stand" (Raqnek rajane. ''"Stand up, Rajàn.") '''pilðu '"to shoot, fire, take a shot" (Pilðuk so xaulora! ''"Shoot at the knife!") '''ginu '"to trick, fool" (''Alò, hef ginoruk ze. ''"Wow, you really fooled me.") '''furo "to lie" (No gai betxìn furoruk vend seon? ''"But why did you lie to me?") '''alto' "to notice" (Alti li là. ''"I just noticed it.") Irregular verbs '''er '"must, have to" (Is eran ge fo qede. "We don't have to do this." vs. Eran i fo ge sole "We mustn't do this.") em, emor, muþ "be" fo, fer, fooþ "do" tyu, tivor, tyuþ "be born" Predictably irregular verbs Some other irregular patterns appear, for example: *verbs ending in tyu/ku/tyo/ko or dyu/gu/dyo/go become (t)xi and dyi in the 1s.pres. ex. legu "to talk, speak, say" * verbs ending in ka/ga change the to <(t)x/dy> is the 1s.pres, 1p.pres, and 3p.pres. ex. menga "turn" Syntax Noun phrase Verb phrase Negation Negation in statements and questions is expressed primarily by a preverbal particle i ''(''is before p'', ''t, k'', ''l, y'', ''n, m'', ''h, or a vowel). Normally pronounced /i(s)/, it's /iʃ/ before p'' or ''t. * fo "do" > i fo "not do" * sterre "hunt" > i sterre "not hunt" * legu "say" > is legu "not say" * oda "give" > is oda "not give" * talentu "give numbers" > is talentu "not give numbers" But that's not all. The preverbal particle is always paired with a postverbal particle. * ge: unmarked; ex. I fudyi ge sole. "I don't do that." * plo: emphatic, used mostly with commands; ex. I fok plo sole! "Don't do that!" * zimai: never; ex. Seo i fera zimai sole. "I haven't ever done that." These circumverbal particles are placed directly around the main verb, be it auxiliary or not, and nothing can go between them and the verb. ex. Seo is mi zimai diuhere ze ip txuò! "I will never surrender to you!" Adverbials Quotations Inversion Prepositions There is a very limited set of true prepositions in Alemarese. Most prepositional meanings are carried out through compound prepositions. Locations are formed starting with the preposition hus "as" which tends to be dropped in all but the most careful of speech, then a locative noun in the nominative singular, then the noun in the genitive. ex. hus ijvend so kuro "in the flame (lit. as inside of the flame)" Venitive directions are formed starting with the preposition ip "towards, intended for", then a directional noun in the instrumental singular, then the noun in the genitive. ex. ip ijvendun so kuro "into the flame (lit. towards inside of the flame)" Andative directions are formed starting with the preposition el "of, from", then a directional noun in the genitive singular, then the noun in the genitive. ex. el ijvendo so kuro "out of the flame (lit. from inside of the flame)" Some common morphemes in prepositional nouns are ij "in", ro(l) "top/on", vend "side", etc. All true indivisible prepositions are as follows: Vocabulary Numbers Though Patronans have ten fingers in total, the most common base for numerals (talento) is 8 (octal) which was spread by Alemarese and Barejine-speakers across most of Patrona. Typically, fingercounting starts with the thumbs out, the first finger being the index, etc. *Ordinals are formed with <-me>. First and second are formed suppletively (veit and drezip). They are adjectives. *Fractions are formed with <-aj>. Half is suppletive and quarter is irregular (foli and meraj). They are nouns. *In both, only the last word of the number receives the ending. *Numbers pidejn (0), dièn (9), horòn (11), and above and above are nouns declined according to form. The item they tell the quantity of is rendered in the genitive after them. ex. krentà dièn "nine people" *''Jen'' (1), diz (2), hor (3), mir (4), and on (8) are undeclined particles that appear before the noun. ex. on krenten "eight people" *''Dorsa'' (5), sexa (6), ðea (7), and eqa (10) are regular adjectives, except that the noun and adjective are typically in the singular, with the plural implying an incredibly spread-out number of things. ex. krenta eqa "ten people" Colors Patronans can't see blue, so they have no need of words to distinguish it, greatly shrinking their color (fulko) vocabulary. *txindi: dark red, purple, brown *god: light red, pink, orange *plauve: white, yellow *xab: light green, chartreuse, cyan *varze: dark green, teal *eriti: black, blue *hoitxi: gray Days of the Week The Patronan week is only six days long. #deruax- Sunday #lameax- Loveday #kavekax- Thoughtday #veverax- Fastday #mindax- big Moonday #jiliax- little Moonday Directions Conjunctions ð (and), iy...iy... (either or), tai (and/or), no (but/yet), gai (because/for), uve (if) Family * paloval: family * babora/baba: mother * nunora/nuna: father * isterren: parents * blivoa: sibling * jiþue: spouse * jiþue blank: blanks-in-law * pels: child * meðvoa: nibling * birre: mother's sibling's spouse * hube: mother's sibling * ernya: father's sibling * necra: father's sibling's spouse * kòsembe: relative, cousin * babisterren/pripeyen: maternal grandparents * pripea: maternal grandmother * pripè: maternal grandfather * nunisterren: paternal grandparents * nunbabora/nunbaba: paternal grandmother * nunnunora/nunnuna: paternal grandfather Seasons Seasons (vostin) do not begin on solstices/equinoxes, those are their middles instead. The first day of the year is the closest possible day to the Summer solstice. *estè: Summer (esteo) *dimbri: fall/autumn (dimbrin) *veyeþ: winter (veyeðo) *àdler: spring (aldro) Body parts Important Phrases Time * Time: Dià/Dyia * Day: Ax * Sunrise: Tembre àlus (lit. Night's end) * Daytime: Þeudyì * Sunset: Þeudyio àlus (lit. Daytime's end) * Nighttime: Tembra * Year: Rang * Season: Vosti * Month: * Week: * Hour: jaurà * Minute: Naming conventions Swadesh Category:Languages